


Comfort

by thegirlwiththemouseyhair



Series: Boundaries Verse [5]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Disabled Character, Canon Gay Character, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-08-07
Packaged: 2018-02-12 03:43:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2094399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwiththemouseyhair/pseuds/thegirlwiththemouseyhair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another slice of life piece set in my Boundaries continuity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comfort

“Ted?” Thomas calls, entering the flat they now share. It’s awfully quiet. Thomas frowns and hurries inside, because he can’t help worrying. Ted’s come a long way, but his bad days are still pretty bleak. Sometimes Thomas gets home to find that Ted has called into work sick and stayed in bed all day, too unhappy even to speak, and comforted only by Ace’s warm presence beside him while he lies there alone.

“ _Teddy_?” Thomas asks again.

“I’m lying down,” Ted answers from the bedroom. “I have one of those headaches.”  

Thomas shoves his key in his pocket and breathes a sigh of relief as he goes in to check on Ted. Sometimes, when Ted’s feeling particularly low, Thomas imagines coming home to find him overdosed or bleeding to death in their bed or something. Ted goes to his therapist appointments weekly, and he’s learned to cope much better, but things aren’t _easy_ , either.

Thomas knows those aren’t the sort of problems that just go away. So a headache’s a relief, in comparison.

“You all right?” Thomas asks, hovering by the bedroom door. He’s glad to see Ace lying with her head on Ted’s chest, as if to keep him out of trouble when Thomas isn’t home. “Should I get you your pills?”

Ted shakes his head, but doesn’t bother to move any more than that. “I took them an hour ago, with plenty of water. Not that they help.”

Thomas sighs again.

“Well, what _can_ I do, as your doctor boyfriend?”

“Hm. You can come distract me.”

Thomas smiles a little. Ted’s voice is _almost_ amused, which is much, much better than it could have been. He started getting the headaches after the crash that cost him his eyesight; they’re a reminder of everything’s he’s been through, which Thomas knows is far worse for him than the physical pain.

He crosses the room and sits down beside Ted, taking his hand.

“You could go back to that neurologist…”

“What else is she going to do? Tell me they’re common after – after the sort of injuries I had and that I should keep on the meds? I know all that.”

Thomas strokes his hand. “You should try anyway. And if you don’t like her I’ll find you someone else to go to.”

“What would be the point?” Ted snaps.

“That maybe _someone_ can help,” Thomas counters, “and you should keep trying.”

Now it’s Ted’s turn to sigh.

“Fine,” he says after a moment. “When I can get out of bed I’ll make another appointment.”

Thomas leans forward to kiss his cheek. “Good. And if you want me to find you someone else, just tell me.”

“All right. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.” They’re silent for a bit, but Thomas doesn’t want to stop talking – he can better gauge how Ted is doing when they’re talking – so he gropes for something to say. “Were you at work at all today?”

Ted hates the desk job he has now, after years of adventure. He says they only gave it to him out of pity for a disabled veteran, but Thomas (who’d done his share of shit jobs before he finished his schooling) tells him it’s a start, better than nothing, and Ted knows that.

“Three hours. Then it got too bad.”

“Well, I can make you a cold compress – ”

“Never mind,” Ted says, squeezing Thomas’s hand. “Just stay. I’d prefer the company.”

Thomas smiles a little, even though Ted can’t see it, and even though he still doesn’t think he’s much good at that whole cheering his boyfriend up thing.

“All right.”


End file.
